Two years ago, I sailed on the Brilliance and had a wonderful time. This recent cruise was a big disappointment. The changes were quite noticeable and bad. The food was only mediocre with very few selections on the menu. The folks at "guest services" were rude, condescending and lied to us. The entertainment was very poor, as compared to two years ago. One of our expensive excursions was not as advertised and was cut short by an hour. The first port that we had to be tendered into was very badly handled...as though they had never tendered before. Folks had to stand in line in the hallways on two decks for up to 3 hours. The next port that had to be tendered was handled better, but the crew member piloting the ship's motor boat ran onto a sandbar in spite of a buoy clearly marking the sandbar. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt!
At one port, we were 4 miles from the town with no taxi service at that commercial port. I was totally bummed when we were charged by the ship to board their reserved buses for the ride into town! This should not have happened. I suppose that Royal Caribbean will soon be charging to be tendered into towns too.
There was no "meet and greet" with the captain and officers. There was no get together for Crown & Anchor members.